DangerBoy's 4Runner Labrador Trip

Ahhh Labrador..... the sites the smells the scenery the Italians..... oh but I digress..... As anyone who actually follows the information on this site would know, the latest trail ride for my ‘89 4Runner was in the form of an excursion to Goose Bay/Happy Valley Labrador.   Why, you may ask, on earth would anyone want to go to Goose Bay for a vacation??? Well let me tell you that if you are into adventures and you think your truck can handle it this is certainly a once in a lifetime trip! (Once in a lifetime because unless you live there, once you have visited and seen the sites there is really no reason to return unless you are truly a glutton for punishment or you really and truly want to beat the living crud out of your vehicle or you have an airplane so you don't have to worry about the 5500 km round trip by road) Yes that's for real..... 5500 km's round trip from where we live in Ontario to Goose bay. The basic route takes about 6 hours up the 401 to Montreal where you pick up 20 over to 40 then north on 389 until you hit Lab (Labrador) City where you continue North on 500 until you break or reach Goose bay. We cut our trip up into 4 days of travel.

Day one saw us leaving bright and early at 10:00 AM...... oh well so much for an early start! My truck and my friend John's 2000 TJ Sahara were loaded up and pointed East on highway 401 and that's the way we stayed for about 6 hours until we reached Montreal. The plan was to kill as many miles as we could on day one before the children (Christopher age 12 and Victoria age 6) went completely bananas from being in the back seat. We stopped only for gas and or food all day and stopped and set up camp about 30 minutes out of Tadoussac Quebec at a rest stop with about 1200km's under our belts. I thank the inventors of Gameboy at this point in the trip as if it was not for them my children would have been hitching a ride home. Generally they frown on tents at rest stops but we were up and moving early so we had no problems. Day one was by far the easiest except for some vague signage we ran into around Quebec City and a minor problem with the roof rack in that it wouldn't stay tight but we were able to fix that up along the way.

Day two dawned crisp and sunny and with the daylight we were able to see just how amazing this area was! We quickly snapped some pics and headed down the road to Tadoussac where a 10 minute ferry ride gets you across the Saguenay river. We then continued on through steep grades and beautiful scenery until we reached Baie Comeau. We made one extended stop on this leg of the Journey at a small town along the north shore of the St. Lawrence river. The St. Lawrence looks more like a huge lake than a river as you look out across to the sometimes visible south shore. The ocean tides affect the river and when we stopped the tide was out so we were able to walk around the rocks in the bay collecting shells for my daughter. Just on the outskirts of town we found a waterfall and spent time climbing and exploring along the base of the falls. The signs specifically say no swimming in the falls and we honestly tried to obey right up until Christopher managed to fall in. The water was very shallow so there were no problems until Chris came out of the water and realized his legs and shorts were covered with a combination of green slime and leaches! Once he was cleaned up we headed east to Baie Comeau and our turn north on #389. Not long after getting on to 389 we ran into our first problems. The rain started coming down and although the first section of the highway is paved, it is still VERY bumpy from the logging trucks that frequent the area. The V6 in my truck was down on its knees in 3rd tackling 11-15% grades and blind corners and speeding loggers. At one point we pulled off to talk with our traveling companions and the gravel shoulder caved in under the weight of my truck. This would be the first, but certainly not the last time we would break out the tow straps on this trip. About 10 minutes further down the road we realized we forgot to stow a crow bar we had used as a hammer while jury rigging the rack on my truck as the crowbar went clanging back down the road and off an embankment into the bush..... better the crow bar than something important like a kid. Just before dark we came to Manic canq (or Manic 5) which is just one of a series of hydro electric plants and dams along our route. The Road skirts the edge of the dam and then without warning turns to gravel. We continued on for just over an hour and called it a day Unfortunately heavy rains and the dark made it impossible to find dry wood for a fire so after a supper or prime rib steaks (a tradition for our first camp supper) we went to bed early in preparation for day 3. The rain and the grades cut our average speed down to about 60kmh (40mph) for most of this leg so with the extended stop and rough road conditions we only managed about 500kms for day two.

The dawn of day 3 showed us that our chosen camp site was no less beautiful than the first and once we had breakfast we broke camp and headed out.   Hindsight being 20/20 we should have stopped about 30 minutes farther up the road at this beautiful beach with tons of firewood. We knew it would fall on a midway point on our return trip so we built an inuksuk to mark our passing (basically Inuit for "we were here"). Day 3 was clear and sunny for the most part and the scenery was spectacular!!! At this point I should note that we stopped at all service stations from here until our destination as there is anywhere from 300-400 kms between service stations. I would also warn that the price of gas is REALLY high in this area to the tune of $0.90/liter (that's a whopping $3.45 per gallon)!! Its not a bad idea to carry fuel with you at this point depending on your travel plans. Gas stations are not open 24 hours a day up here so if you plan to travel at night you will need some reserve fuel. Early afternoon on day 3 the gravel road suddenly turned to pavement again with curbs, sewers and side streets off into the weeds at the ghost town of Gagnon. The houses are long gone but its easy to see where the town once was. The pavement lasts for about an hour and then abruptly changes back to gravel. BEWARE!! This is by far the toughest stretch of this trip!! The road at this point starts to wind and twist with hairpins, switchbacks and washouts. The road is VERY narrow and the truckers don't share really well.... you can see the trucks coming for a good mile in advance from the dust clouds but when they blast by you may as well pull up and relax for a couple of minutes until the dust settles. Headlights are a must on the gravel sections so people can see you coming through the dust. About 3 hours of white knuckle driving gets you to Churchill falls and then its back to the easier hard packed gravel and higher speeds. Speed limits are posted as 70km but on the sections above Churchill falls its easy to get up to 100+ and necessary if you want to make it up the steep grades without gearing way down. A few more hours down the road and you reach Labrador city and English speaking people ..... this is a nice change after two days of traveling through French only areas of Quebec. A quick stop for gas and a (choke) $25.00 rad cap!! And we are back on our way. A couple of hours above Lab city we called it a day and set up camp at a rocky area along one of the many lakes. With lots of fire wood we stayed up well after dark and actually say the northern light for the first time! It was amazing to look at the sky up there when there is absolutely no light pollution for 100's of miles in any direction.

With morning began our last leg of the journey and our least eventful. For me #500 was the least appealing section as it was mainly marsh and scrub. Large areas showed signs of forest fires that left many areas looking bleak and desolate. About 5 hours of driving and suddenly there is sand everywhere and it took all of our will power not to lock up and dive in. It wasn't long after that and we arrived in Goose bay. We had friends who were already there and they quickly pointed us to an amazing camp site on a bend of North west river just off of the road. The only way to our campsite was in 4wd across the sand... we tried 2wd but there was no way!! Once we had set up camp I made a quick inspection of my truck and found a blown rear pinion seal and two completely oil soaked and toasted front shocks...... and they were only 6 months old!! A quick trip into town brought the revelation that Toyota pinion seals are not easily had and my part had to be ordered, and then flown in from St. Johns on the island..... that would require 4 days by the time it was picked up at the local airport!!! I topped up the gear oil and went shock shopping. This is when I found the awesome people that run Aim automotive. They did not have the correct shocks for my truck but they were kind enough to not only let me rifle through there stock to locate a close match (the bushing was the wrong diameter so I had to press in the ones from the old shocks) but they also let me use their shop which consisted of a hoist and air tools to install the shocks and then only charged me $38 each for a set of Munroe sensi-tracs..... not my first choice but beggars cant be choosers!! Needless to say the hoist was MUCH easier than laying on my back in the sand trying to do the installation!! Once the truck was in shape sightseeing was the name of the game and we covered it all! A trip to the woods and a view of a forest fire in progress was sad and amazing all at once. Careless berry pickers sparked the blaze on of all places "burnt ridge" (go figure) Watching water bombers come in and drop their loads less than a km away was one of the most amazing sights!! Wanna buy a cabin...cheap??? 2 bedrooms on a lakefront for $8000.00 no I did not forget a "0" all you have to do is pay the $75.00 a year land rental and its all yours!

A trip to Goose bay is not complete without a trip to the air force base and a view of German, Itallian, French and British air force jets doing low level flight training in everything from F16's to Mirage and Tornados . We managed to catch everyone returning from maneuvers including a couple of AWACS. One of the cooler things we saw (for you airplane lovers) was a couple real antiques!! 2 CT-133 Silver stars (T-Birds) coming in for landing!

We of course had to do some wheeling so we blasted all over the sand and rocks around our campsite.... and I got smart and reeeeally stuck and had to be winched. Based on what we saw you could easily spend two weeks doing nothing but 4 wheeling and never see the same scenery twice! The area offered everything from extreme rock crawling to fire roads and sand.... the only consideration is breakage...... never wheel alone out here and always bring parts or be prepared to wait 4 or 5 days for them to arrive when you order them. Although we saw deer, moose, foxes and rabbits we wanted to see some real wildlife soooo........ it was off to the garbage dump to see the bears. Now I have seen bears at dumps in northern Ontario but nothing could prepare me for the size of some of the blacks we saw here! These guys were monsters! Most people see the overall dimensions of the bears and stay well back but one rental van full of Italians was not so careful (you can read the Italian's story here). Our final day in Labrador consisted of a road trip out to North west river about 33km out of Goose bay on N.W.R.road.   This was a true tourist jaunt to view a Hudson bay trading post originally opened in 1836, the Labrador Interpretation center which has an interesting display of the Innu life and art as well as Lake Melville. Lake Melville was as close as I could get to putting my tires in the ocean..... someday I hope to drive this same truck to the west coast and continue the ritual with a dip in the pacific. After a trip to Sunday Hill with its spectacular view of both Grand lake and Lake Mellville we headed back to camp and our final evening in Goose Bay. The return trip was solo as John and his TJ decided to stay on for a few more days. We actually pulled the return trip in 3 days staying in motels and hauling butt for over 1400Kms the last day. Final tally for damages: one rear pinion seal, two front shocks, rear universal (but it got us home), and what sounds like a bad CV or locking hub up front....probably got some sand in it.   Would I do it again.......Probably not but it was certainly worth the trip and the adventure to say "been there done that!

The Italians: This van speeds into the dump and slides to a stop about 5 feet from the feeding bears and out rolled 8 or 10 large Italians who proceeded to run up within a few feet of the bears, snap of a pile of flash photos in the twilight and then scramble back to their van as the bears growled and bared their teeth. These gentlemen proceeded to jump in and out of their van 3 more times before deciding to leave but their van, a 1 ton ford rental, wouldn't seem to move. They would put it in drive and wind it out only to have it crawl a few feet and lurch to a stop. It was rather obvious that they had locked the parking brake on so it was with great pain I offered my assistance when one of them started yelling "scuseee scuseee sir... you help??? I said sure and walked over. The release handle was busted for the brake and they had really leaned into it when setting it! I wasn't sure how much I could do for them in the dark but I was willing to drive back to town to get them a tow truck. Then the only one who could speak any form of English asked with great gesticulating ".... sir....sir do you have de de ah" ..."pliers?" I asked with a wild guess at his hand gestures...."YES!!!! Pliers" he replied!! "To pull de...de ...de".... "Cable?" I asked?.....YES de cable!!!! So while I got some pliers out of my tool box for him, he informed me in broken English that he and his comrades where Itallian air force pilots and that it was there first time in Canada and seeing bears!! All I could think of was .... how many Itallian air force officers does it take to release a parking brake....sounds like the beginning of a joke! Suddenly my new Itallian friend pipes up "Bears.....dey um...ah... dey ah dangeroos???" "Yes very" I replied "OHHHHHHHH!!!" he says with great surprise. I then informed him as best I could that if you got too close or aggravated them they would turn on you and likely kill you........"OHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" he says.... Suddenly from behind us I hear "ka--ching" as the parking brake releases and suddenly all of the pilots let out a huge cheer!!! And my new friend grabs my arm and pumps it for all he's worth and says "tank you vedy vedy vedy vedy vedy vedy mooch!!!! You my new Canadian friend!!!" and with that they all dove back into their van and roared off into the night. I guess they are responsible enough to deal with millions of dollars of high tech aviation equipment but they didn't have the common sense God gave a sack of hammers.... nice guys though. In hindsight I probably could have gotten a tour of the base but the following day was to be our last.